I Heart Books & DIY Project

I have been a non-fiction kinda bookworm for seven years. I have a hard time reconciling this: if time is precious and we are in the flurry of doing and giving and living, then how can I indulge in entertaining fiction? At least that was my accidental philosophy on the topic since my sister-in-law died unexpectedly mid-book in 2006. I took a slice of her passion for reading and channeled into absorbing every book on death and angels I could find. Later I leaped wholeheartedly into personal growth and photography books.

In the past few months an earth angel has been spoon-feeding me gifts leading me full-circle back to fiction. It started with The Fault in our Stars (I fell head over heels). Thank you John Green for your epic characters.

“The real heroes anyway aren’t

the people doing things;

the real heroes are the people

NOTICING things, paying attention.”

– John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

And, then along came Mary Anne through The End of Your Life Book Club. This one tiny paragraph is a great introduction to Mary Anne and her wisdom.

“Mom taught me not to look away from the worst but to believe that we can all do better. She never wavered in her conviction that books are the most powerful tool in the human arsenal, that reading all kinds of books, in whatever format you choose – electronic (even though that wasn’t for her) or printed, or audio – is the grandest entertainment, and also is how you take part in human conversation. Mom taught me that you can make a difference in the world and that books really do matter: they’re how we know what we need to do in life, and how we tell others.”

-Will Schwalbe, The End of Your Life Book Club

My current reads!

I love The Last Lecture. I mentioned it here (link to prior post on 6.23.12)… I listened to it on audio, bought copies for my daughters and even gifted the book to everyone in my office (a first ever book splurge)! The copy I have been saving for a creative project came off the shelf last weekend. My oldest teen assisted in the flurry of creative bliss! It was a one part “trip down memory lane as we found the pages we loved the most” and one part “magic” as we transformed the wise pages into something new. It went something like this…

We covered the entire giant table with beloved book pages. Once dry we added a couple extra top coats of Mod Podge to make it durable. I also sprayed it with a top coat of sealer. For a more finished look, I lined the edge of the table and the seam meeting the books’ pages with fabric. I am still working on the table legs! Once its finished I am moving this table to the center of the studio.

Full disclosure: I am a busy bee and admit that audio books are my “books” of choice. I would love to hear about your favorite reads.

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3 Comments

Great post! I especially liked the Earnest Is Better Than Hip & Dream Big pages/pictures you shared. Some of my favorite reads lately have been The All-Inclusive Christ by Watchman Nee, and Take A Chance On Me by Susan May Warren.